Spatial Design Network Analysis (sDNA)

Spatial Design Network Analysis (sDNA) is a toolkit for analysing street and path networks as link-based spatial graphs, measuring how individual road segments function as routes and destinations within the larger network. Developed by Crispin Cooper and Alain Chiaradia at Cardiff University, it computes closeness- and betweenness-style measures over geometrically accurate, optionally three-dimensional networks, using hybrid distance metrics that blend metric length, angular turn cost and topological steps. By weighting links and analysing them within chosen radii, sDNA predicts pedestrian and vehicle flows, land values and accessibility, bridging the configurational tradition of space syntax with mainstream geographic-information-system network analysis.